Monsoon is when the mosquito menace seems to be on the rise in the city. But for a few neighbourhoods in Pudupet, fighting the bloodsucking bugs is a year-long battle. And the residents have no one but themselves to blame, for most of the rooftop spaces are being used as an open warehouse to store auto spare parts, tyres and tubes of vehicles. Stagnant rainwater in these spaces have become perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes.
Residences in the packed neighbourhoods of SBI Colony, Syful Mulk Nawab Street, Velayutha Chetty Street, Sami Street, Chandrabanu Street and Adithanar Salai in Pudupet, belonging to Zone 5 (Royapuram) of the Greater Chennai Corporation have been unsuccessfully fighting the menace for many years. “Children in our locality are often falling sick. Health workers from the Corporation too don’t visit our neighbourhoods,” says K. Anand, a resident.
Residents say that the increase in mosquito population is due to the rise in the number of spare parts outlets in the locality with more rooftops bein rented to store used spare parts and other materials by traders. “Used tyres forms more than 60% of materials stored on rooftops of houses. Rainwater gets stagnated in these tyres during monsoon,” he adds.
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Corporation officials say that accessing the closely-built structures in the neighbourhood ago remains a challenge. “Many houses are in a dilapidated condition with no easy access to its rooftops. Corporation staff are conducting awareness drives among residents in Pudupet to discourage storage of such materials on the rooftops. Special drives will be cunducted soon,” says a Corporation official.